The recent email system hacks at the Commerce and State departments, which China may have been engaged in, are the subject of an inquiry, the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee revealed on Wednesday.
Representative James Comer, chair of the committee, and the heads of two subcommittees sought staff briefings from Secretaries of State Antony Blinken and the Department of Commerce by August 9.
"We are also concerned that this attack on federal agencies, including the email account of a senior U.S. government official such as yourself, reflects a new level of skill and sophistication from China’s hackers," the lawmakers Raimondo stated.
A person with knowledge of the incident claims that Raimondo was one of a number of senior U.S. officials whose emails were stolen at the beginning of this year by a group Microsoft (MSFT.O) believed was based in China.
In the midst of rising tensions between Beijing and Washington on a variety of issues, from trade to Taiwan, the disclosure that senior State and Commerce department officials' emails had been obtained by Chinese hackers last month sparked controversy.
At least 20 additional organisations were affected by the breach, but it's unclear how severe it was. The American ambassador to China, Daniel Kritenbrink, reportedly had his email account hacked, according to The Wall Street Journal last month.
Hundreds of thousands of emails were reportedly stolen in total, The Journal reported.
Despite the alleged Chinese hacking, Raimondo stated last month that she still intended to travel to China this year. In spite of the fact that the trip is currently being planned, Raimondo told CNBC, "We do not justify any hacking or breach of our security."
The Chinese embassy in Washington previously issued a statement in which it acknowledged the difficulty of determining the source of cyberattacks and issued a warning against making "groundless speculations and allegations."
